Microsoft and virtualization a few thoughts

October 30th, 2008 • Related • Filed Under

Information Week

For companies using virtual servers to run critical applications, live migration is highly desirable, since it lets data centers swap running instances of critical virtual servers between physical systems with zero downtime.

VMware has live migration, but Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) doesn’t, and won’t until its next release of Windows Server 2008, due in 2010. When Microsoft officially launched its virtualization products recently, Bob Muglia, senior VP of Microsoft’s server and tools business, downplayed the importance of the feature, which in the VMware product lineup is called VMotion. “There is no magic in VMotion. It’s just a feature, and we’ll have that feature in the next release,” Muglia said.

I remain excited about what Microsoft can offer in the virtualization space, simply because the more vendors we have in the virtualization space, the more choice we have for the end user, the more innovation and healthy competition. That the end user can choose the platform that works for them, for their operating environment, that provides the empowerment they need is crucial, everything else is noise. The more users we bring online to this new virtual world, the more we can transform the way we deliver IT for the better, the more we can empower our business environmentally and operationally.

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